12 Great iPad Apps for Elementary School Kids

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The iPad is not only the latest craze in technology for music, movies and more—it's also a wonderful teaching tool and the wave of the future in terms of how kids learn. There's a wealth of fun apps for elementary school students produced for the iPad, but how can you get your children to stop playing Talking Carl and Plants vs. Zombies and start playing some of those educational games that offer a bit more substance? It may be a simple matter of steering your kids in the right direction. After all, it’s parents who buy the apps for their children. Take the reins and seize the opportunity to get your child to interact with some these great learning tools, like reading apps for kids and elementary math apps.

Click on an item in the set below to see more info.

Toca Store

For a break from academically heavy apps, try this very interactive game that teaches children how to cooperate, negotiate and spend money wisely.

Budding consumers role-play and create their own stores, using their money skills, sorting, categorizing, imagination and playful nature.

Brainzy

This game program for kids 3 to 7 is an excellent choice for parents who want to encourage good math and reading skills from a young age.

With over 300 games and 30 essential skills covered, Brainzy is the perfect computer and iPad program for kids in preschool to first grade. Kids learn about each math and reading skill through a teaching video, song, or read-along story before practicing through arcade-like learning games.

Park Math

Variety is the name of the game in this engaging yet educational app. With seven sections to choose from, kids will learn addition, subtraction, counting and categorizing.

Each page has plenty for little fingers to explore, with interactive surprises to touch and try in every scene. Kindergarteners will learn the concept that objects—and animals—can represent numbers or sections of an equation.

Motion Math: Wings

Forget Angry Birds—help your little one soar to the head of her math class with this avian-themed pre-multiplication app.

Tilting the smart device to aim, she'll be building her spatial and cognitive awareness as she plays. Kids will explore the concepts behind multiplication with easily understandable dot visuals before actually having to solve equations.

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Even Monsters Get Sick

This beautifully illustrated eBook features a gently captivating story with an age-appropriate pace, starring a boy named Harry and his pet monster Zub, who is suffering from a serious case of the sniffles.

This app has achieved the perfect balance of interactive elements and good old-fashioned storytelling, with games that kids will want to play again and again.

Math Evolve: A Fun Math Game

Pay homage to retro arcade-style games with this addicting space-themed math app. Take off on an intergalactic mission into outer space, solving puzzles and shooting down alien crafts as you fly. Watch out for enemy fire and avoid punching in too many wrong answers; both could lead to a failed mission. Missions are based on four different math operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Match-Up Math

Match your way to math success with this educationally rich app. In the same vein as many classic matching games, your mathematician clears tiles off the screen by matching problems and answers.

If simple addition is too easy for your child, don't worry: Match-Up Math was made with long-term use and multiple grade levels in mind.

Awesome Upstander!

Bullying is a sensitive subject and can be tricky to navigate; however, this app successfully gets their anti-bullying message across while remaining engaging and fun—it's not too preachy or too complex for third-graders.

The main idea is simple—kids are asked to run, leap and dash around the school to save their friends from a mean-spirited bully.

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Bobo Explores Light

Dive into the wonderful world of bright, bendable and colorful light with Bobo, the adorable illuminated robot. This innovative app encourages touch and exploration at every turn. Little scientists will be spellbound by Bobo's guidance and glowing graphics. Each slide explores a facet of light science—where it comes from, what it's made of, and how we use it.

Planets

The phrase "a window on the world" has never been truer than in this breathtaking astronomy app that lets budding astronauts wander through real-time views of the solar system, moons, stars, and more.

With the universe in the palm of their hands, little stargazers can pinch, zoom and tap their way around the galaxy; choose from Sky 2D or 3D, Infrared Sky, Radio Waves, X-Rays and more view options.

Toontastic

Storytelling is a tried-and-true way of sparking creativity and building an understanding of story elements such as set-up, conflict, challenge, climax and resolution.

With Toontastic, kids are presented a detailed explanation of what makes a good story using a step-by-step guide to create cartoons.

Rainbow Sentences

Understanding how to write a complete sentence is a struggle for many children. Rainbow Sentences calls in color to help kids get a better grasp on the different elements of a sentence and how they come together.

This is an intuitive, beautifully designed app that's completely customizable to fit a child's needs. Positive word placement reinforcement is encouraged verbally, and color-coding highlights parts of a sentence for visual learners.

StoryBuilder

Once upon a time … kids relied solely on teacher feedback and repetition to finally master writing paragraphs. Now, the past is history! In this simple, intuitive app, budding authors are guided through the process of creating a tale of their own using cartoon images and corresponding question text.

Cheery graphics help kids begin their tales, which are recorded in their own voices. Stringing together these snippets of narrative allows little writers to understand how a paragraph—and later, a story—is formed.